The New American Crime Film

The most pervasive genre in contemporary cinema, the American crime film has recently enjoyed a new surge of popularity and proliferation. Though these innovative films now tackle topical issues, they continue to reference the classic narratives and archetypes established in the great crime pictures of past decades. The titles explored in this critical survey span many themes that have fused with other genres to create fascinating filmic hybrids. Focusing on character and plot construction, the author highlights the gangster and film noir traditions that still run strongly through recent American cinema.

Among the many filmmakers analyzed within these pages are David Lynch, Gus Van Sant, David Mamet, Werner Herzog, Sam Raimi, David Cronenberg and the Coen Brothers. Stuart Gordon, director of the cult classic Re-Animator, provides the lively and incisive foreword.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Forward by Stuart Gordon
Introduction: Why Genre, and Why the New Crime Film has Arrived

PART 1: New Break-Ins
ONE: Say Hello to the New Heist: Spike Lee's Inside Man

TWO: Paranoia Reemerging: Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton

THREE: Scandalous Notes: The "Feminized" Crime of Notes on a Scandal

FOUR: Searching the Wasteland: Debra Granik's Winter's Bone

FIVE: Teen Crime and Redemption: Gus Van Sant's Elephant and Paranoid Park


PART 2: Darkest Regions
SIX: Night of the Hunters: David Fincher and the New Serial Killer Film

SEVEN: Crime and Suffering: Stuart Gordon's Edmond and Stuck

EIGHT: In a World of "Shit": Crime Motifs in Fast Food Nation

NINE: Noir and True Crime: The Films of Andrew Jarecki

TEN: "Now It's Dark": David Lynch's Crime Nightmares


PART 3: The Oldschool Goes New
ELEVEN: The Bloody Frontier: Tommy Lee Jones' Weary Avenger

TWELVE: New Paths to Justice: Clint Eastwood's Late-Career Crime Films

THIRTEEN: Woody Allen's Match(ed) Point: The Crime of Class

FOURTEEN: David Mamet: Crime, Power, and Perspective

FIFTEEN: New Ganglands: The Journey to Public Enemies and American Gangster


PART 4: Triumphant Getaways
SIXTEEN: The Coen Uncanny: from Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men

SEVENTEEN: From the Body Outward: The New Crimes of David Cronenberg

EIGHTEEN: Reclaiming the Renegade Cop: Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

NINTEEN: Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan: A Triumph of Classicism


Chapter Notes
Index
Acknowledgments